title: Paintable band-edge liquid crystal lasers.
abstract: In this paper we demonstrate photonic band-edge laser emission from emulsion-based polymer dispersed liquid crystals. The lasing medium consists of dye-doped chiral nematic droplets dispersed within a polymer matrix that spontaneously align as the film dries. Such lasers can be easily formed on single substrates with no alignment layers. The system combines the self-organizing periodic structure of chiral nematic liquid crystals with the simplicity of the emulsion procedure so as to produce a material that retains the emission characteristics of band-edge lasers yet can be readily coated. Sequential and stacked layers demonstrate the possibility of achieving simultaneous multi-wavelength laser output from glass, metallic, and flexible substrates.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FA, UK. djg47@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Damian J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Gardiner
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Philip J W
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hands
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mowatt
authors.forename: Rupert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rutledge
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.forename: Harry J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Coles
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007834:Lasers; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D010150:Paint